Conspiracy theory

Did you hear the one about the NRA paying a blogger to write for an Upstate newspaper website? Apparently, if a new blogger appears and writes some pro-gun themes, but also has some traditionally liberal values, then it is a sure thing that the NRA is behind it. If the blogger was staunchly conservative on all issues that would also mean the NRA was behind it. Actually any pro-gun views would be the key indicator that the blogger is a hired professional bought and sold by the NRA.

Of course, it wouldn’t be likely at all that a person could have a mixture of views and yet still be pro-gun. Within the realm of this particular conspiracy theory, any pro-gun views are cause for deep suspicion. The real clincher is if the conspiracy theorists don’t like the name the blogger posts under. Surely the newspaper must have been paid off to allow the blogger to post. There just couldn’t possibly be any other explanation. Rumor has it the newspaper in question received a cool million. They are reported to have spent some of that money on polo shirts proudly displaying the NRA logo.

The roots of such conspiracy theories go deep. Instead of viewing the NRA as a group of 5 million grassroots pro-gun people choosing to support local clubs, education, gun safety, and marksmanship, the NRA is instead twisted into a corporate lobby group buying and funding hired gun bloggers. Such bloggers, it would seem, ride into town facing down anti-gun hysteria with the stroke of a keyboard.

I suppose if you already believe that a pistol grip somehow turns an ordinary deer rifle into an “assault weapon,” or believe that only allowing 7 bullets in a 10 round magazine somehow makes sense, then you are probably predisposed to such wild conspiracy theories anyway. It is no stretch to believe the NRA is going around paying top dollar to sneak professional bloggers into your local city newspaper.

I’ve heard the going rates are $50 per blog article, with an additional $5 for each comment the article generates. Ironically, the conspiracy theorists who make comments within said articles actually contribute money toward the hired bloggers. And because such bloggers will surely use that money to buy more guns and ammunition, the conspiracy theorists are inadvertently supporting the gun makers.